


Third Time's The Charm

by Reis_Asher



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: CyberLife Tower (Detroit: Become Human), Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Meet Kamski Chapter (Detroit: Become Human), Public Enemy Chapter (Detroit: Become Human), Temporary Character Death, off-page sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:06:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25332877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reis_Asher/pseuds/Reis_Asher
Summary: Connor dies protecting Hank in Public Enemy, and Hank is afraid the new Connor that meets him at Kamski's place isn't the same boy he knows and loves. Just as he's proven wrong, Connor's life is threatened once more by a copy of himself... but how alike are they, really?
Relationships: Hank Anderson/Connor
Comments: 2
Kudos: 40





	Third Time's The Charm

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Temporary Character Death (Connor "dies" twice). Connor 60 is in this, but he's the same as regular Connor and not his own separate character. No explicit sex, but a reference to an off-page HankCon sexual encounter after the Eden Club.

"Connor…" Hank rolled Connor over onto his back. The boy's face was peaceful, his LED winked out like a light switched off. "Connor, no." He was gone. He'd jumped in the line of fire to save Hank's life. Sacrificed his own life like it meant nothing.

CyberLife would send another one come tomorrow, but it wouldn't be the same. The new Connor would have the old Connor's memories—or most of them, at least—but he wouldn't have Hank's handprints on his body where they'd clumsily made love in the back of his car after the Eden Club.

A bad decision, perhaps, but the look in Connor's eyes when he said "I can be whatever you want me to be, Lieutenant," had been more of a come-on than anything Hank had experienced at a seedy bar. It was Connor who'd touched him first, proving he was alive somewhere in there with every sigh and shudder in the backseat. His desperate cry of "come in me!" had driven Hank over the edge, proving—in Hank's mind at least—that this android was alive.

Connor's blue blood stained Hank's hands as he touched his lifeless body, but it was the serenity in his expression that struck Hank most of all. Connor looked like he'd completed his mission, but he knew Connor's mission parameters didn't pertain to protecting him. He'd chosen Hank's life over everything else and he was _happy_ about it.

Was Connor in love with him?

The Connor who showed up at Kamski's place didn't seem to be.

"My predecessor was unfortunately destroyed, but CyberLife transferred its memory and sent me to replace it." His mannerisms were every bit as robotic as the day he'd showed up at the bar, and it twisted the knife in Hank's gut. His Connor was dead. This Connor showed no evidence of the humanity that had caused the last one to sacrifice himself for Hank.

"You died in my arms… and now you're… back here as if nothing happened... Fuck you." Hank stalked up to Kamski's front door, grief dragging him down like chains on his spirit. He'd held onto hope that Connor might come back the same, but there was no chance of that. He sat in the waiting room and made small talk, lost in a black fog.

The gun woke him up. Kamski pressed it into Connor's hands. One of Kamski's pretty assistants knelt down before him, and Kamski was goading Connor to shoot her.

Hank couldn't look away. He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, knowing this replacement Connor wouldn't trade the mission for an android, but hope flared inside him as Connor hesitated. Maybe, just maybe, there was some hint of that precious soul in this one as well.

"Connor, don't!" Hank yelled. Connor paused for a moment, then shoved the firearm back into Kamski's hand. 

"CyberLife's last chance to save humanity… is itself a deviant," Kamski remarked.

"I'm not a deviant!" Connor seemed pained, as if Kamski had insulted him.

"You chose to spare a machine rather than accomplish your mission. You saw a living being in this android. You showed empathy."

Hank herded Connor towards the exit. Whatever sick game Kamski had been trying to play, it hadn't worked, and Hank was more than relieved.

"Why didn't you shoot?" Hank asked.

"I just saw that girl's eyes… and I couldn't, that's all…"

"You're always saying you'd do anything to accomplish your mission…" Hank was starting to see the cracks in CyberLife's facade. Perhaps dying had set Connor back on his path to deviancy, but not that much. He'd still chosen to spare an android's life. "That was our chance to learn something, and you let it go."

"Yeah, I know what I should've done! I told you I couldn't. I'm sorry, okay?" Connor seemed defensive, as if he was being called out, and Hank wondered just how much CyberLife chastised him for failing his mission objectives.

"Maybe you did the right thing." Hank couldn't suppress the grin that crossed his face. If Connor was still in there, then maybe there was hope yet that love wasn't dead—

Hank sighed as he looked up to see Connor standing before him and beside him. Two of the same model, but only one was the Connor he knew. Androids filled the base of CyberLife Tower, and the gun pointed at his head was very real. He'd known something was wrong, but he'd chalked it up to paranoia. He'd been overanalyzing everything Connor did, clinging to every sign of life in hopes that Connor was not only deviant, but in love with him, and he'd had his doubts over the last few hours. Now he knew why.

The cold machine next to him was nothing more than that—a machine sent by CyberLife in Connor's form to end this. "Your friend's life is in your hands. Now it's time to decide what matters most. Him, or the revolution."

Hank hadn't expected it to come down to something so literal. The Connor attempting to deviate all the androids in the basement was definitely deviant, now. This other Connor had led Hank here on the same pretext—deviate all the androids to help the android rebellion. Only it had been a trap. This one wasn't deviant. This one was trying to kill Connor.

"Don't listen to him! Everything this fucker says is a lie!" Hank yelled.

Connor looked at him with puppy dog eyes, and Hank smiled at Connor's concern. That was the Connor he knew. The Connor who'd thrown himself at death to save Hank. "I'm sorry, Hank! You shouldn't have got mixed up in all this!"

"Forget about me, do what you have to do!"

Hank stood and listened, waiting for an opportunity as Connor tried to convince the double standing next to him of his humanity. He could only feel pride swell in his heart as Connor put his hands up in surrender. Choosing Hank over his new mission. Always choosing him. Hank didn't know what to make of it. If they both survived this, maybe they'd explore it together.

The interloper moved to point his gun at Connor and Hank reached for it. He wasn't going to let anything happen to Connor, not this time. It was his turn to protect the android he'd come to love. He lunged at the machine, struggling for the weapon. Connor seemed to pause, trapped between two things he cared so deeply about—Hank and his own future.

Hank was shoved to the ground and he heard the firearm discharge. Connor slumped to his knees. The double kept firing until his clip was empty, and Hank wondered where all that loathing came from. It didn't seem like the logical response of a machine.

"Connor, no…" Hank gasped. Not again. He couldn't lose Connor again. Not when they were so close to finally untangling their feelings.

"He really liked you, Lieutenant. That's what killed him." The other Connor looked at Hank with something akin to remorse and walked away. Hank had expected this android to shoot him, but something had stayed his hand. Compassion? Empathy?

Hank pursed his lips as the machine Connor walked towards the elevator, ejecting the empty clip and tossing it aside. He looked at his Connor, a bullet hole pierced straight through his forehead. There was no saving him.

_"My predecessor was unfortunately destroyed, but CyberLife transferred its memory and sent me to replace it."_ Hank recalled his conversation with Connor outside Kamski's place. He'd gone on to deviate, despite Hank thinking all hope was lost. This new Connor, the one who'd just held him at gunpoint, had Connor's memories as well. All he was, was another model rolled back to an earlier version of the boy he loved.

Hope was not yet lost.

Hank scrambled to his feet. "Connor, wait!" 

Connor turned to look at him, confusion etched into his features. Hank walked past the empty shell of dead Connor and knew what he had to do. If Connor still lived inside this machine wearing his face, it was Hank's job to force him to deviate once more and finish the mission. Only he could fix the tragedy that had unfolded because he'd trusted the wrong Connor. He had to speed up the process that had led the new model he'd met at Kamski's place all the way to this point, and he didn't have much time.

He seized Connor by the shoulders and pulled him into a deep, loving kiss. Connor drew away and pushed him back. Hank almost lost his footing, but he was a big man, not easily knocked over. He grabbed Connor again and forced a kiss on him, knowing this was his last chance. If he couldn't convert this Connor, all hope was lost. Connor struggled, the vibration of a moan passing through him and into Hank, and Hank could only think of the contrast with the pliant, willing man who'd become putty in his hands.

Just as he was about to give up, Connor's resistance seemed to ease. He slumped for a moment before kissing back, his tongue slipping into Hank's mouth as he took control. Hank broke the kiss, and drew back to see a tear trickling down Connor's face. He thumbed it away, exhaling a sigh of relief.

"I'm a deviant," Connor whispered, looking down at his hands. He looked at the Connor he'd shot. "We're the same."

"I know," Hank soothed. "I know." He pulled Connor into his arms. "You can still finish what you started. Deviate these androids and save the revolution."

Connor nodded. "That's right." He reached for one of the androids, retracting the layer of skin over his hand and transmitting the deviant code into it. It spread outward like a wave, each android deviating the one in front until the entire room was awake and aware, looking to Connor for guidance.

Connor turned back to look at Hank. "There's something else I started that I've yet to see through. Will you wait for me?"

"Of course I will," Hank said. "I'll see you at Chicken Feed, Connor, once all this is over. Don't be late."

Connor smiled, and Hank knew everything was going to be all right. He offered Connor a smile in return as he walked away. This was Connor's fight, but Hank had faith that he'd be all right. He'd died and come back to life twice already.

Hopefully this third time would be the charm.


End file.
